ST. LOUIS (KMOV.com) -- Wednesday, a St. Louis alderwoman joined the movement to bring legal marijuana to Missouri.

Megan Green plans to present a proposal to legalize marijuana within the City of St. Louis Thursday.

It’s the latest effort to legalize the drug in the Show Me State.

Earlier this year Illinois introduced a legalization bill that didn't go anywhere despite having legalized medical marijuana, but efforts have continued in the region to clear everything from medical use to recreational use

"Right now we're in the midst of a petition drive we're out gathering signatures," said John Payne with New Approach Missouri.

The group is dedicated to bringing medical marijuana to Missouri, one of several efforts underway to try and go around a Republican-controlled state government on the issue and one which has rejected medical marijuana.

"I don't know when that's going to happen. They'll be a debate on it and discussion on it as there has been an ongoing debate and I think we're far from deciding whether that's going to happen or not in the near future," he said.

Missouri has thus far only gone as far as approving the growing and selling of hemp oil.

As many as 30 states now have some form of medical marijuana and supporters point to a growing acceptance of marijuana as spearheading the effort.

"The vast majority of Missouri voters do support using medical cannabis in Missouri,” Payne said. “We polled on it a few times and it's between 60 and 70 percent, so it's a strong majority."

Payne says his group is fast approaching 100,000 signatures and it's expected there may be a couple marijuana issues on Missouri's ballot next year.